hohberger



Aug. 6, 1929. J. T. HOHBERGER OVERHEAD RAILWAY Filed Aug. 15, 1927' 5 Shets-Sheet 1 fzweni or" \fih 217055672767" 9 /'5 jig/3 Aug. 6, 1929. .1. r. HOHBERGER 1,723,352

OVERHEAD RAILWAY Filed Aug. 13, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 f'zaerzir Aug. 6, 1929. J. T. HOHBERGER 1,723,352

CVERHEAD RAILWAY Filed Aug. 13, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ZZZ/1567? Patented Aug. 6, 1929.

amass JOHN '1. HOHBERGER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

OVERHEAD RAILWAY.

Application filed August 13, 1927. Serial No. 212,721.

My invention relates to overhead railways, and has for its object the provision of a rail and car construction wherein when the car is traveling at high speed the weight upon the v5 rail-is reduced in order to prevent subjecting the mechanism to too great a mechanical strain.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an overheadrailway car of this char- 10 acter with means whereby the air through which the car is passing will exert a lifting force upon the car to relieve the rail of some or all of its weight.

Anotherobject of theinvention is to pro- 15. vide means for regulating the lifting power exerted upon the car by the air. This is desirable because ifthe lifting powerwere too great it might raise the car sufliciently to interfere with the proper operation of the 20 track upon the rail or'even to cause serious damage .to'the car, its supporting, mechanism, or the rail.

Another object of the invention is to pro pulling-the car, which means may at' the same time be controlled from within the car, 'butwhich is not subject tothe lifting power exerted upon the carvby the air.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. However, I wish it to to limit myself to the exact details shown and described, but thatI intend to avail myself of all. such modifications as would occur to one skilled in this art and as would fall within the scope of the claims. H Inthe drawings Fig. 1 is a side view showing the supporting means for the overhead rail and the car mounted in position on the T2111;

Fig. 2is a sectional view taken on 22 of- Fig. 1;' I

3 is an enlarged detail, sectional view of a certain part of the device; I

the line F igQfl isia section on theline 4-4 of F -3; "i i r I Q Fig-J is a section on the line 55-,of

Fig. 1;

Fig-6 is an enlarged, fragmentary view.

of a portion of the structure shown incrosssectionm .F 1g, 5; and 1 vide means in combination with a car adapt-' ed to be supported by an overhead rail for be distinctly understood that I do not intend Fig. 7 is a detail View of one of the supporting trucksfor the car shown in Fig. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the numeral 10 illustrates generally a'framework supported by means of the transverse- .lyextending frame portion 11 and supporting in turn the longitudinally extending rail 12. This rail, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, consists substantially of an I-beam .wherein the top flange 13 is secured to the ries the longitudinally extending channel members20 and 21, which are secured together in any suitable manner to form a rigid structure.

The car 15 is suspended from the channel members and 21 by means of a plurallty of heavy springs 22 and 23. These springs are spaced longitudinally along the car and preferably are of such strength that under normal load-they expand but very little in length. These springs are secured to the car by means of link members 24 and 25 which. surround a plurality of shafts 26 -extending transversely of the car and 'mountcd in suitable bearings therein. These shafts 26 carry at their opposite ends a plurality of blades or wings 27 and 28 which are rigidly'secured thereto and adapted to turn with theshafts. The wings 27 and 28, which may be of any suitable material, are spaced longitudinally of the car in the same manner as the springs 22 and 23, so as to divide the weight of the car substantially equally betwe'en'them. These. wings, being pivoted by means of the shafts 26, may be adjusted from apositionwhere they lie substantially in' a horizontal planeto a position wherein they slope downwardly toward the rear of the car. The means for accomplishing this adjustment consists of a shaft 29 extending longitudinally of the car and having a series of worms 80 thereon meshing with small gears 31 on each of the shafts 26, so

that upon rotation of the shaft 29 the wings will be turned through the medium of the the channel members 20 and 21, and,

as: showrrin Fig. 4, is secured by the guide piece 35 to one of the channel members. At the upper end of the rod 34 a roller 36 is provided, which roller engages the lower face of the flange 14. A spring 37 nor- 1 mally maintains the rod 31 pressed clownvided'with a-ser-ies of motors, two'ofwhich wardly'out of engagement with the flange 14; lnlthis posit-ion the shaft 29 retains the wings 27 and 28 withtheir forwardends tipped upwardly so that when the car is inmotion the air striking the under faces thereof will exert an upward orlifting force upon them. However, when the car moves upwardly, in response to this lifting force or for any other'reason, the rod 34 coming in contact with the flange 14 will be pressed downwardly relatively tothe gear wheel and cause it to rotate andthereby bring,

through the medium of theshaft 29 and the worm 30 and gear-31, the wings 27 and 28 toward a horizontal plane, and thus cut on the lifting force eXerted'thereon-by the air; Means for'pulling the car 15is provided in the motor car indicatedgenerally by the numeral=40, which'is connected by means of the chain 41 or other suitable drive means to the beams 20 andQl; This motor car may ,be'of any suitable type, that in the present instance consisting of an electric motor in- 'stallation, which has control means (not shown) extending into the main car through the flexible conduit indicated at 42. By spacing the'motor car from themain car the weight on the overhead rail is distributed over .a greater length-than it would be if the motors were placed in the main car and this makes it possible to use a much lighter overhead rail; g v

As shown in Fig. 5, the motor car is'proare shown'in thisligureat 44 and 45, each motor carrying a drive wheehindicated at ,46 and 47, which drive wheel? rests upon the dang-e14; The motors are supported by 'means'of" frame members 48, 49., and 50, and

the shafts towhich the drive wheels are securedfmay be suitably mounted on these frames in anti fr'iction bearing s'ofthe type commonlyused in this sort of work.- These drive wheels, asi'ndlcated at47, are detach; ably mounted on their respective motor "shafts'by means'of afiange 51-v secured upon the shaft and the bolts. 52 extending through the web of the wheel. I

In order to' obtain a more noiseless drive,

the wheels are provided withnonanetallic -1l111 portions 53, whlch-may be of rubber or other suitable compounds such as are used on railway car wheels or trucks.

Means have been provided for preventing the derailing of the device in case one of the wheels should break, and this means consists of a plurality of shoes, indicated at 54, 55 V and 5G in Fig. 6, which shoes project inwardly from the framework carrying the supportmg'and drlving wheels, and extend over the flange 14. VVhil'e only one ofthese shoes is shown in Fig. 5, it isto be underg stood that they are provided on both sides either side would not derail the car, since these shoes would simply drop down upon 7 of the beam-12, so that failure of a wheel on 39, which aresecured to the wings substantially along the axis of rotation thereof and I are extended downwardly therefrom andinwardly to the bottonrof the car 15. 7

From the above description, it is thought device will be clear to those skilledin'this art.

that the construction and operation of-this .Havingthus described my invention, what I- claim and desire to secure'by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. An overhead railway constructionineluding in combination a guiding and supporting rail, a' car, a truck having wheels thereon engaging said rail, suspension 5 springs forming thesole connectionbetween said car and'truck, and laterally projecting wings onsaidcar.

2. An overhead railway construction including in combination a guiding and supporting rail, a car, a truck having wheels thereon engaging said rail, suspensionmeans connecting said car and truck, laterally projecting wingson said car, said wings being inclined downwardly'froin front to rear whereby the air striking'them when-the'car 3. An over-head railway construction in} i eluding in combination a guiding and supporting rail, a car, a truck having. wheels thereon engaging said rail,-suspension means connecting said'car and truck, laterally-pro jecting wings on said car, said Wings "being inclined downwardly from front to .rear whereby the air striking them-when thecar is moving exerts a lifting force upon said car, and means operatively connected to said wings and engaging said rail for moving said wings to reduce said downward inclination of said wings upon movement of said car upwardly toward said rail.

' 4. An overhead railwayconstruction including in combination a guiding and supporting rail,.a car, a truck having wheels thereon engaging said rail suspension means connecting said car and truck,.laterally projecting wings on said car, said wings inclining downwardly from front to rear whereby the air striking them when the car is'moving forward exerts a lifting force upon said car, and means operatively connected to said wings for controlling them 111- clination by the vertical movement of said car relative to said rail.

5. An'overhead railway construction ineluding in combination an overhead track, supporting means therefor, a car, means for suspending said car from said track, laterally projecting wings on said car and means operatively connected with said wings for controllin their inclination by the vertical movement of said car relative to said track.

6. An overhead railway construction including in combination an overhead track, supporting means therefor, a car, means for suspending said car from said track, laterally projecting wings on said car and means operatively connected with said wings for controlling their inclination by the vertical movement of said car relative to said track, said means including a member carried by said car for engaging said track.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day of August, A. D. 1927.

JOHN T. HOHBERGER. 

